"I asked Darlene about this," he told me. "She said the decision was approved informally because there wasn't time for a vote. Then the minutes were updated to reflect the consensus."
"Was there a consensus?"
"Not that I can verify. And I was the treasurer. If the association approved a payment like this, I'd expect to know about it before the money left the account."
There was more. Kent had been examining payments to Darlene herself, described as consulting fees of four thousand dollars a month. He found invoices from vendors related to her family, amounts that seemed high compared with bids for similar services, and monthly reports that summarized expenses under broad headings residents rarely questioned. He didn't claim every transaction was theft. He showed me the invoices, explained which approvals were missing, and identified the questions he had been unable to get answered.
"Why bring this to me?" I asked.
He rubbed his forehead. "Because you're already being told you're crazy for asking obvious questions. I know what that feels like. Darlene fined my wife five hundred dollars over the color of roses in a front garden. When I asked where the rule came from, she told me not to undermine board authority."
"I started looking at the bylaws after that. The flowers aren't the important thing, but they made me read."
I told him he should speak to an attorney representing the homeowners and to any appropriate oversight authority. He nodded; he had already tried to